Ring of Five Questions: Round 7

Welcome again Greyhawkers! If you've been following, this is the seventh round of my ongoing Return of the Ring of Five Questions column! If you're seeing this column for the first time this is a community participation feature of Greyhawkery. Search back and read the previous installments then email me at mortellan@gmail.com with your own five responses. Remember, you can be as short or wordy as you like in these responses. Also, I will keep taking entries until the end of 2020 so hang in there, I will get to your answers eventually!

Let's step into the Ring and meet two new faces for this round, both avid fans of Greyhawk and long time readers of the blog. Good luck to Matthew Minnie and Gary Francisco! And.....GO!

Q1. What is your favorite realm or region in the World of Greyhawk setting? 

Gary: Lordship of the Isles/Sunndi region.

Matt: Keoland.                                                                       

Gary opens things with a region that I've never considered. Sunndi does have some coast on the Aerdy Sea giving it contact with the Lordship. The Isles is an area I'd love to develop someday like I've done for the Sea Princes, but Sunndi is one area I've never considered using (unlike Gaetano who also uses Sunndi in a previous ring). I'd have to imagine Gary has some Iron League stories to tell...

Now Matthew goes with a popular choice in contrast. I think starting in Living Greyhawk (2000) when we got a deluge of new information, that area became more enticing to play in. That's my indication at any rate. You can't go wrong with Keoland for game ideas.

Q2. If you could actually be one Greyhawk deity which one would it be?

Gary: Tritherion, the Wanderer

Matt: Kelanen.

Matt picks another fan favorite, Kelanen. I think he's high on my list if I were a deity too. Not too godly, but bad ass enough to defeat anyone in your way. Two sentient swords is better than one as well. Gary would be Trithereon (the Summoner, no big deal), a slightly higher class of god, but just as martially dangerous as Kelanen, and with animals to boot! Trithereon is also special because he uses a spear. Spears are sort of out of style in D&D, but in his line of work, maybe you do need reach.

Q3. You have one wish. Which Greyhawk module or accessory would you do over or fix?

Gary: The "L" series > The Secret of Bone Hill, Assassin's Knot, & Deep Dwarven Delve > so much potential, so much confusion and disjointed plot lines.

Matt: Five Shall Be One.

Gary's choice of the L-Series is fitting since we are recently mourning the passing of its author, Lenard Lakofka. Now Mr. Francisco must be an old schooler who played these mods, so he would know what's  needed to fix the plot lines. So much of Greyhawk seems disjointed at times so I can't fault L-Series. I personally feel bad in hindsight that I've never ran these modules. I know Bone Hill is on my bucket list though. Speaking of redos, Matt picks my favorite and one I've harped on many times. FSBO (and Howl From the North) could've been epic barbarian themed modules if they were a trilogy and then had some impact on the Greyhawk Wars that followed. Something happened and the whole thing was a wreck. I redid FSbO for the South Seas (Sea Princes, Amedio, Scarlet Brotherhood area), and it works just as good in that Suel milieu as it did in the cold north. Maybe give that a try Matthew?

Q4: You're putting together an all-star Greyhawk NPC group. Who is your number one pick?

Gary: Curley Greenleaf > he was my favorite in the Gord series.

Matt: Mordenkainen.

Matthew goes with Mordy, which is a popular choice, but hey, if you're going to take on the worst in Greyhawk you need the guy who knows everything (or thinks he does). Plus, if Mordy turns evil this way you can keep an eye on him....Gary shows more of his old school roots by picking an NPC from Gygax's novels. Curley is an inspired choice, and I can imagine, his second round pick will probably be Gord. ;)

Q5. If you could possess one artifact or relic from Greyhawk lore, which would it be?

Gary: An Orb of Dragonkind.

Matt: Swiftdoom. (I know that it's one of Kelanen's sword's, but it had to be around looong before he was).

Gary brings out a new artifact to the Ring. An Orb of Dragonkind, any one will suffice, is a brilliant idea. Who wouldn't want to control a dragon? The applications after that are limitless. See Game of Thrones. Matthew Minnie finishes off this round of the Ring of Five Q's with a puzzling thought, how old is Swiftdoom and does the sword predate Kelanen? Since Matt is ACTUALLY going to be Kelanen, of course he would possess Swiftdoom (and Sureguard is a given). I don't think I could separate the pair of swords or choose a favorite. As to the age of these swords, I am sure Kelanen could make swords, but enchant them? Perhaps, but make them sentient? Doubtful. And, since he is just a hero-deity that I don't think is pre-migration, then maybe those two swords are indeed older than him. Maybe they are ancient Flannae or elven creations? Who knows? Thanks for that conundrum Matt!

And that concludes another rousing round of the Ring! What will happen next installment? Wait and see!